COURTESY PHOTO
Emery Arsenault was on duty at a radar site when the Japanese attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. The 95-year-old U.S. Army private is attending the 75th commemoration on the island.
By THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — Seventy-five years ago today hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the U.S. naval base on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii killing more than 2,000 soldiers and launching the country’s entry into World War II.
Lynn resident Emery Arsenault, then 20, was on duty at a radar site on the island preparing to attend Mass when spotters saw blips from the Waianae mountain range that turned out to be bombers. The Army private survived the air strikes in a ditch while firing off clips from his rifle embedded in the sand.
Today, Arsenault, 95, will attend the 75th commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor co-hosted by the National Park Service and the U.S. Navy. The National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day will feature a wreath presentation, bell ringing, tours of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Morgenthau and the USS Oklahoma Memorial, which honors the 429 men who lost their lives aboard the ship that was destroyed by torpedoes, a performance by the Pearl Harbor Mass Band and a memorial parade.
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“It was very important for him to be there and he was medically cleared to go,” said his daughter Anne Marie Mullen, whose dad lives with her in Peabody. “The veterans are treated like heroes there by the Hawaiian people and the different organizations. It means so much to him.”
Arsenault is one of 30 Pearl Harbor veterans nationwide who will attend the solemn ceremony courtesy of the Greatest Generation Foundation. The Colorado-based nonprofit was founded to honor the sacrifices of veterans by returning them to their former battlegrounds to ensure their legacies are recorded and retold for future generations.
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In an interview with The Item in 1991, Arsenault said he was stationed in Fort Weaver, a half-mile from the mouth of Pearl Harbor, when the attack came. The soldiers had been operating the radar when they saw something on the screen.
“We relayed the information to headquarters at Fort Shafter, but the lieutenant passed it off saying they were expecting some B-17s from the mainland and told us to forget about it,” he said. “We were waiting for a truck to take us to the ferry to go to church and all of a sudden, Japanese torpedo bombers flew by at tree-top level and started to shoot at us with their machine guns … we were in foxholes all night under trees waiting for an invasion, which thank God, never came.”
Nicholas Bua, director of the Veterans Services Department in Revere, said Dec. 7 needs to be remembered and he fears as the veterans die they might be forgotten.
“Dec. 7 needs to be a national holiday,” he said. “That’s one way to recognize these brave soldiers.”
John Sacherski, VFW Post commander in Swampscott, praised the media for keeping the stories of veterans in the news and educating the younger generation about the service of veterans.
The attack on Pearl Harbor lasted just two hours, but the Japanese destroyed about 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and more than 300 airplanes, according to an account of the bombing by history.com.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, but Japan and the U.S. had been edging toward war for decades. Still, no one thought the Japanese would start war with an attack on American territory. For one thing, Hawaii and Japan were 4,000 miles apart. For another, American intelligence officials were confident that any Japanese attack would take place in one of the nearby European colonies in the South Pacific, according to history.com.
Lynn Veterans Agent Michael Sweeney said Pearl Harbor remains a seminal moment in American history.
“We must never forget,” he said.
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected].